"Bet 600 Billion Won and Got Burned Badly"... Musk Becomes the 'Biggest Loser' [U.S. Blue Tsunami]

Musk-backed candidates lose one after another
Democrats also win the Texas governor's race
Data center expansion plans could face setbacks

The Republican Party’s crushing defeat in the U.S. midterm elections has dealt a political blow to Tesla CEO Elon Musk. He poured nearly 600 billion won into supporting Republican candidates, but one major candidate after another lost. With Democrats also winning the Texas gubernatorial race, the expansion of data centers that Musk is pursuing could face setbacks, analysts say.

Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, speaks at the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump on Jan. 20, 2025. AP-Yonhap News

According to Politico, a political news outlet, on Nov. 4 local time, Musk spent about $446 million (approximately 598.5 billion won) to support Republican candidates in the midterm elections. That was the largest amount in U.S. history spent in a single election by an individual who was not running for office. More than $200 million of it went to races in Texas.

Most of the candidates Musk backed, however, lost. They included Republican Ken Paxton, who ran for the U.S. Senate in Texas, and Vivek Ramaswamy, who ran for governor of Ohio. In particular, Democrat Gina Hinojosa defeated incumbent Republican Governor Greg Abbott to win the Texas gubernatorial race.

That day, Musk wrote on X (formerly Twitter), "Building data centers in space looks quite attractive right now." He added jokingly, "Apparently my space laser for interfering in elections didn't work this time."

There are also concerns that Musk could become the subject of congressional investigations now that Democrats control Congress. Some Democratic lawmakers have called for technology company CEOs to appear before Congress. Democratic Representative Greg Casar said, "One reason voters rejected Republicans is that the party was bought with money by AI billionaires," adding, "Democrats should hold them accountable instead of accepting their checks."

Shares of companies led by Musk were also weak in the U.S. stock market before the opening bell. SpaceX fell 3.8% and Tesla dropped 3.3% from the previous session's closing prices. Both companies continued to weaken after regular trading ended. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed up 1.44% that day. CNBC, a U.S. business news outlet, noted that the declines appeared to reflect concerns that congressional oversight and regulation of their businesses could intensify following the Democrats' control of Congress and victory in the Texas gubernatorial race.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.